Puppy class excitement

[jsharp]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I enrolled our little Bentley, now 13 weeks old, in a puppy class to try and socialize him a bit. It definitely focuses more on the puppy interaction than discipline, but what discipline they teach is +R-based. There are 8-10 other dogs and owners in the class, and it lasts for an hour each week. Just a little background.

Our situation is this: Bentley is normally a pretty chilled out dog around the house and with other puppies/dogs (outside the class), but he gets REALLY riled up in the class and won't respond to ANY redirection or attempts to get his attention. He's barking/growling, straining on the leash during "quiet" times, running toward the door, etc. Based on stuff I've read on here, it seems like he's having a hard time channeling all the energy in the room. We try to redirect him into tug with his favorite strap, but he has a difficult time responding even to that. Food works occasionally.

So one concern is that this isn't "okay" (relative term) given that none of the other dogs are showing similar behavior in there. He's definitely the most energized. The second question is what to do with it in the class or at home that could help him know what to do with all that energy. It's sad to see him so worked up without a good outlet.

Any thoughts? Thanks for reading!

[neilsattin]

Thanks for your question - and yes, some things immediately jump out at me:

Our situation is this: Bentley is normally a pretty chilled out dog around the house and with other puppies/dogs (outside the class), but he gets REALLY riled up in the class and won't respond to ANY redirection or attempts to get his attention. He's barking/growling, straining on the leash during "quiet" times, running toward the door, etc. Based on stuff I've read on here, it seems like he's having a hard time channeling all the energy in the room. We try to redirect him into tug with his favorite strap, but he has a difficult time responding even to that. Food works occasionally.

I would take it a step further - that he is showing obvious signs of experiencing more energy than his little nervous system can handle. You said that you signed up for the class in order to get him more socialization - but it sounds like he does just fine with more "natural" socializing outside the classroom.

At 13 weeks, he is really too young for any robust training. Sure, some dogs respond to it just fine, but Bentley is giving you a clear message: "Too much for me".

I want to reassure you that you don't have to do everything all at once. You'll be served well by being patient, letting Bentley socialize in circumstances that are positive for him, and being really gradual in your testing the limits of his attraction to you. Despite what you hear about the importance of socialization - a casual, moderate approach is much healthier than the artificial overstimulation of puppy playgroups and obedience classes.

Right now, your focus should be mainly on developing a structure to your life that Bentley can rely on, enforcing the indoor/outdoor paradigm , and thinking of yourself as a parent of a really young child who needs to be protected from threats to his emotional stability. While some people might think that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland is a great place for a 3-year-old toddler...I'd probably not even BRING my 3-year-old to Disneyland until he shows even more capacity for staying relaxed while in an emotionally charged situation. Like when he's 20.

So my advice in a nutshell: Don't worry about his response. Ditch the class. Focus your energy on allowing Bentley some time/space to explore his world, get comfortable with you, and slowly develop his emotional faculties.

Don't worry about immediately trying to improve something you see as "wrong" (i.e. his response to the other pups in the class). How many times in your dog's adult life do you think he'll be in a room with 10 other dogs and fistfuls of energy? Instead spend your time enhancing the things that your pup is already doing right, expanding on those motifs as a way to introduce Bentley to progressively more and more complex emotional situations. But he's only 13 weeks old. At this point, he's still trying to figure out what a tree is, what grass is, what life in this crazy human world is all about.

Thanks again for your question, and I hope these thoughts help. Keep 'em coming!

[jsharp]

Thanks, Neil. This really confirms what we were thinking - turns out that neither of us were really impressed with the class anyway! Talking through this whole thing was a nice process between me and my wife that let us check in with one another regarding our "parenting skills" thus far. And it reminded us how often our own emotions parallel Bentley's - he's anxious in the class, we're anxious about him being anxious, and so on.

We've ditched the class and a lot of unnecessary worrying along with it. Thanks again

Jeremy

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Neil Sattin's Disneyland analogy is perfect. I would go one further and say that puppy classes can actually cause learning deficits, decrease a pup's ability to learn impulse control, and interfere with his social and emotional development.

Top Ten Myths, #8: You Must Start Training Your Puppy Right Away

LCK

[jsharp]

It's amazing how things feel different when you're actually in the moment. I'd read everything before we got him and again before deciding to start the class, but it's tough to fight the anxiety of not having a "good" dog or raising him the "right" way when others are insisting that puppy class is a good way to socialize, etc. The old disconnect between cognition and emotion rears its head again. It's been nice to reevaluate and center, ditching the class and being more forgiving of both Bentley and ourselves since.

[neilsattin]

I'm glad to hear it.